SuperLeague Formula Round 2 - Nurburgring

[duke_toaster]

Anyone else looking forward to it?

Standings

This series has thrown up some curveballs (bit of an underperformance from Andy Zuber, Toccacello's blown engine and a pleasant surprise from Duncan Tappy).

Available : live on their website in certain countries, or

UK: Setanta Sports (2 I presume)
Spain and Andorra: Cuatro
Italy: Sky Italia
Portugal: TVI
Brazil: Sportv
France: Direct 8
Netherlands: RTL
Greece: Alpha TV
Cyprus: MiVision
Turkey: Show TV
UAE & Middle East countries: Abu Dhabi Sport

[duke_toaster]

TV feed looks broken.

[ivanalesi]

It works for me from here, the onboard camera view point is awesome!

[ivanalesi]

Their web team made a mistake. They cut off the live broadcast at exactly 16:00 and because Pizzonia's team had released him previously instead of someone else, the whole qualifying was like 2-3 minutes late and I couldn't watch the last semi-final and the final. This was their 1st qualifying that I watch, and I must say this format has quite a lot of potential! I doubt the backmarkers would love the format, because they won't get that much time, but it keeps you on the edge with these constant shoot-outs. They should also fix the TV graphics and timing, it's not working properly everytime. The only format problem is synchonization, there's a lot of time waiting for cars to go on track - it should be like in skiing, all instant! I liked it quite a lot and the noise is just... it's better than F1 on this feed! I don't know how it's on track. Sadly though, there were absolutely no spectators, their promotion is lacking big time.
The star of qualifying? Wissel, with just FBMW midfielder experience he had every chance to go to the final, but had some gearbox problem...

[2112]

Missed it today, but watched the last race. I like this series, I hope it catches on.

[Albeckinho]

Think I should post this to general thread, but..

... who's gonna pay this all? I mean, budgets must be pretty huge, cars cost pretty handsome amount of money, million dollar prize purse... At the beginning it was advertised to clubs as "good way to generate more money" since you can add more stickers to the car, but those cars seem plain to me, no sponsor stickers? Jeez, I really hope that this will continue, but still I have to wonder if this is going to last. Wissel was good and that isn't 100% good thing - FBMW midfielder/backmarker, absolute rookie almost wipes the floor with far more experienced drivers? Right.

[ivanalesi]

Some private investors, there was an article in gpweek about the championship after Donington. The 1st year they will try to finance the teams, and I think they hoped the 3rd year to be w/o losses. But I think A1's premier at Brands was in front of quite a large crowd! They somehow rushed the series... otherwise I liked quite a lot the qualy format, I would love it in F1!
Wissel might have been that fast thanks to track knowledge, he knows Nurburgring better than most of these drivers. Also for Donington someone here wrote that scrutineering is not so good.

[Roninho]

Just watched the first race @ nurnburgring. Since last race was under wet conditions this was the first time i could see the cars perform under dry conditions. I liked it, they are pretty powerfull and look nice. Superleague fastest lap was +- a 1m42.5 in qualifying, gp2's fastest lap last year was a 1m40.9.

The race itself wasn't a spectacle, a couple of extra cars would be very good for the racing. And the mandatory pit-stop when the race only lasts 45 minutes is a bit to much for me, makes it very confusing to follow.

Some private investors, there was an article in gpweek about the championship after Donington. The 1st year they will try to finance the teams, and I think they hoped the 3rd year to be w/o losses. But I think A1's premier at Brands was in front of quite a large crowd! They somehow rushed the series... otherwise I liked quite a lot the qualy format, I would love it in F1!

They don't finance the teams completely. The way i understood it they subsidised the car, but the team has to pay the running costs. And to be honest i think that if the serie would pay for all the costs that would mean the drives where for free. I'd imagine we would not see drivers like Pier Guidi, Andersen, Wissel, Buurman and Tappy in the cars in this scenario.

As for the finances of the serie: i don't see this serie lasting very long, they might have the finances to fund it, but they need some serious promotion and tv-time to attract fans and sponsors to this serie.

[bella]

it's a bit like gp masters, isn't it, it's a novelty. there might be the interest to sustain one or two races a year maybe but not season after season.

[strider]

I'd say it was more like A1GP, but they have the advantage of mostly running out of season, so people follow it because there's nothing else to watch.

A1GP have also sussed out the right balance between nations and drivers. Let's face it, most of it are more interested in seeing how the drivers compare. Unless we're also footy fans that is.

[strider]

Results of race 2 below:

Pos  Driver                Team               Time
 1. Yelmer Buurman         PSV Eindhoven      46:41.041
 2. Craig Dolby            RSC Anderlecht        +0.611
 3. Davide Rigon           Beijing Gouan         +1.630
 4. Enrico Toccacelo       AS Roma               +6.574
 5. Tristan Gommendy       FC Porto              +7.914
 6. Robert Doornbos        AC Milan FC           +8.318
 7. Alessandro Pier Guidi  Galatasaray           +8.713
 8. Borja GarcÃ*a           Sevilla FC            +9.060
 9. Andy Soucek            Atletico de Madrid    +9.418
10. Antonio Pizzonia       SC Corinthians       +10.075
11. Andi Zuber             Al-Ain                +1 lap

Not classified

Driver                     Car                Laps
James Walker               Rangers FC         +10 laps
Max Wissel                 FC Basel           +12 laps
Adrian Valles              Liverpool FC       +21 laps
Kasper Andersen            Olympiacos         +23 laps
Tuka Rocha                 Flamengo           +24 laps
Duncan Tappy               Tottenham Hotspur  +24 laps

I don't want to be too picky, but wouldn't it be a good idea if the drivers were the same nationality as the teams? In most cases they are, but Davide Rigon driving for Beijing? There at least a couple of half decent Chinese drivers around, and shouldn't Robert Doornbos be driving for a Dutch team? Just a thought.

[Stefvh]

That is A1GP.

Here, as in football clubs, nationality doesn't really matters.

[duke_toaster]

Also, with the exception of Ho-Pin Tung I can't think of a decent Chinese driver - and I can't think of one from UAE (no, Andy Zuber doesn't count).

[strider]

Originally Posted by Stefvh

That is A1GP.

Here, as in football clubs, nationality doesn't really matters.

Very good point. I hadn't thought of that. It certainly doesn't count in the football teams.

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Also, with the exception of Ho-Pin Tung I can't think of a decent Chinese driver - and I can't think of one from UAE (no, Andy Zuber doesn't count).

Frankie Cheng (or Cheng Cong Fu) was the other Chinese driver I was thinking about, but I take your point about the UAE.

I officially withdraw the suggestion!

[cos]

Just watched the first Nurburgring race... very dull. Most interesting bit of the race was one of the pit crew (for Anderlecht) inadvertently showing his "builder's crack" during a stop. Was there even anyone in the stands? And who on earth was the commentator they had for the Eurosport 2 live feed?

[Rob29]

Originally Posted by cos

Just watched the first Nurburgring race... very dull. Most interesting bit of the race was one of the pit crew (for Anderlecht) inadvertently showing his "builder's crack" during a stop. Was there even anyone in the stands? And who on earth was the commentator they had for the Eurosport 2 live feed?

How did you get a Eurosport2 live feed? Here in UK we had to wait a week for highlights

[Go_For_Pole]

SLF's problem is that again there was horrible reliability. Throttle cables, gearbox problems, software faults, lack of spares, alternators, you name it. They really have to do something about it and fast otherwise all involved will lose interest.

[morninggents]

Two second places for Craig Dolby in the Anderlecht car - the second one from the back of the grid. This lad has much talent and with the right breaks could get to the very top.

Shame there are not more spectators; can't help but feel the mix of football and motor racing is wrong.

[ford prefect]

What a tedious couple of hours. Boring quali and worse race. After Donington (which was equally dull) I thought I would give it another go.

However, it has had its chance! I don't like the concept and I am not interested in football clubs. Personally I am more interested in knowing what the drivers are doing than the club.

May the demise of Superleague be swift.

[RichardRenes]

Also, Doornbos would only drive for one Dutch team: Feyenoord.. since they are not participating, he chose Milan

[Pete Fenelon]

I have virtually zero interest in football and I much prefer sports cars to single-seaters, but this is about as good as modern one-make single-seaters get. The reliability isn't there yet, but the quality of the drivers is good, the cars make a nice noise and don't look like they corner on rails, and I think this fits comfortably just below GP2 and around the level of A1GP as a way of getting experience in a big and relatively hairy car.

It's not going to convert me back to open-wheelers, or to football, but it's diverting enough and I think the show will improve with time.

I don't get the hostility towards it; a lot of it seems to be the same reaction A1GP got. Merely because the cars aren't branded by 'racing teams' doesn't mean they're not proper (well, as proper as one-make series get) racing cars driven by (mostly) proper racing drivers with professional racing people running them....

Now, that new "F2" travesty, that's different ;P I suspect if SLF was F2 people would be cheering it!

[ford prefect]

I have been a supporter of A1Gp since day 1 and have been to every British meeting.

However, SLF seems to be trying to hard and is a victory of style over substance. The driver seems to be irrelevant, howecer A1 GP acheives a balance between driver and country and team.

The commentators have little ability to connect the audience to the race (not SLF fault, I know) and are making it motorsport for idiots.

The lack of crowd trackside combined with a lack of action makes the spectacle pointless. A1 concentrated on crowds (the first race at Brands was very well attended, although the european rounds at Estoril and Lausitz were thin) and this interest in the fans seperates A1 from other formulae (including F1)

I love the SLF cars, they look like racing cars, sound like racing cars and are driven by racers with reasonable pedigrees (Doornbos, Pizzonia, Tappy, Gommendy and Phillippe) There is just a lack of passion and flair.

Formula 2 is a logical title for a stepping stone formula. I can't help think it will be a title in search of a series. However, like SLF I will give it a go. It just needs to grab the audience and excite and entertain. A1 does, GP2 does, F3 (sometimes), Indycar delivers and I even enjoyed the Renault world Series race at Silverstone.

Perhaps it is purely the narrow minded "football for football fans and motorsport for motorsport fans" mentality, but I think it is one series too many chasing a small portion of the audience.

[Roninho]

Originally Posted by Pete Fenelon

I don't get the hostility towards it; a lot of it seems to be the same reaction A1GP got. Merely because the cars aren't branded by 'racing teams' doesn't mean they're not proper (well, as proper as one-make series get) racing cars driven by (mostly) proper racing drivers with professional racing people running them....

Can't speak for the rest, but there are 2 reasons for me why i'm negative towards it:

1.) I have no problem with the cars being run in the club's livery, but the fact that commentators are constantly talking about "Tottenham is passing Rangers" and totally ignore the drivers is a big turnof to me. I don't have huge positive or negative emotions about these clubs and for me it's like the commentators keep talking about "the Marlboro car is passing the ING car" instead of "Raikkonen is passing Alonso". It's just stupid to me, and a big turn-of. Compared to A1gp i feel that a1gp's emotion actually does make some sense with drivers representing their country (although hampered by the feeling that the best drivers aren't on the grid).

2.) I've been a autorace-fan since the early 90's and interested in the business side of motor-racing since the end of the 90's. I've followed and 'studied' the financial failures of series like champcar, premier gp, formula superfund/euro3000, A1gp (although they did not go out of business), ITC and world sportcars. For me this new serie has all the makings of an expensive failure waiting to happen. Relatively new series like gp2, WTCC, world series by renault and LMES actually make some sense by having their spot on the ladder combined with good partnerships that give them an advantage. I see nothing of this in Superleague.

[Rob29]

For those in UK with Sky but not Sentanta-Nurburgring races on Eurosport2 5.30pm tonight.

[Rob29]

This has got to be the worst supported race series in the history of the sport.Confirmed 'cos' coment that there was not a single person in the stands.I think those at Donington were friends & family of the support races? Would SLF like to admit they have yet to sell a single ticket?